﻿PHILIPPINE OIL-BEARING SEEDS. 445 



By treating with caustic soda the oil yields a greenish resin of semiliquid 

 consistency, soluble in alcohol. The fatty acids consist mainly of palmitic, oleic 

 and stearic. It is stated that the oil is also used in the manufacture of soap. 



Ceiba pentandra (kapok.) — The cotton tree which furnishes the fiber 

 used commercially for upholstering, under the Malayan name "kapok," 

 is exceedingly common in cultivation along the highways, in all parts 

 of the Philippine Islands. It is a somewhat thorny tree 40 to 60 feet 

 high, with horizontal branches in whorls. The fruit is a pod 4 to 6 

 inches long, spindle shaped and filled with black seeds embedded in fine, 

 silky hairs. 



It is distributed throughout the tropics of the world. In Java a 

 considerable industry exists in the products of this tree. The seed 

 hairs are used for pillows, mattresses, sofas, etc., where their lightness, 

 softness, elasticity and immunity from moths, makes them superior 

 for the above-mentioned purposes. In Manila it is being used with ex- 

 cellent results for insulation. 



The undecorticated seeds by extraction with ether yield 25.3 per cent 

 of bland oil of a yellowish color and agreeable taste, and 20 per cent by 

 a pressure of 450 atmospheres with the laboratory hydraulic press. 

 Undecorticated, ground seeds are too difficult to press and the yield of 

 oil is too low for economical milling. 



The fertilizer analysis of extracted kapok seed meal which is given in 

 Table III compares very favorably with the average composition of upland 

 cotton-seed meal, which is used so extensively in the Southern States 

 of Xorth America. Experiments in feeding ground kapok seed to hogs, 

 cattle and horses at the experimental station of the Philippine Bureau of 

 Agriculture were favorable to its use as a stock food. The product much 

 resembles ground linseed in food value. 



The recorded physical and chemical constants of kapok oil are as 

 follows : X1 



Specific gravity at 15° G. 0.9237 



Saponification value . 181 



Iodine value 117.0 

 Hehner value 04.0 



Maumene test 95 



Refractive index 51.3° 



Anacardium occidentale. — This plant furnishes the cashew nut and 

 is very common throughout the Archipelago, having been introduced from 

 tropical America. The nut is a large, yellow, pear-shaped fruit, and 

 contains a brown, kidney-shaped seed attached to one end of the fleshy 

 part. Both the fruit and nut are edible, the latter, when roasted, having 

 a very agreeable taste. The roasted kernel is said to be used in the 

 adulteration of chocolate. The expressed kernel yields a sweet, yellowish 



11 Lewkowitsch. J.: (tele. Pette und Wachse, Braunshweig (1005). 2, 04. 



